Airbus experiments with more control for the autopilot
It's difficult not to be a bit overwhelmed by the Airbus campus in Toulouse. It is a huge site and the workplace for 28,000 staff, plus hundreds of visitors eager to see the planes being built. The enormous Beluga cargo plane is parked at a loading dock, ready to transport vehicles and satellites around the world. Close to where we conduct our interviews is the hangar where the supersonic passenger jet Concorde was developed. This site is also home to much Airbus research and development, including the recently finished Project Dragonfly - an experiment to extend the ability of the autopilot. Over the past 50 years automation in aviation has transformed the role of the pilot. These days pilots have a lot more assistance from tech in the cockpit. Project Dragonfly, conducted on an Airbus A350-1000, extended the plane's autonomy even further. The project focused on three areas: improved automatic landing, taxi assistance and automated emergency diversion. Perhaps the last of those is the most dramatic. Malcolm Ridley, Chief Test Pilot of Airbus's commercial aircraft, reassured us that the risk of being involved in an air accident is "vanishingly small". However, aircraft and crew need to be ready for any scenario, so Project Dragonfly tested an automatic emergency descent system. The idea is this technology will take over if the pilots need to focus on heavy decision-making or if they were to become incapacitated. Under its own control, the plane can descend and land, while recognising other aircraft, weather and terrain. The system also allows the plane to speak to air traffic control over the radio with a synthetic voice created through the use of artificial intelligence. It is a lot for the plane's systems to take on.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-06-20/general/airbus-experiments-with-more-control-for-the-autopilot
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Airbus experiments with more control for the autopilot
It's difficult not to be a bit overwhelmed by the Airbus campus in Toulouse. It is a huge site and the workplace for 28,000 staff, plus hundreds of visitors eager to see the planes being built. The enormous Beluga cargo plane is parked at a loading dock, ready to transport vehicles and satellites around the world. Close to where we conduct our interviews is the hangar where the supersonic passenger jet Concorde was developed. This site is also home to much Airbus research and development, including the recently finished Project Dragonfly - an experiment to extend the ability of the autopilot. Over the past 50 years automation in aviation has transformed the role of the pilot. These days pilots have a lot more assistance from tech in the cockpit. Project Dragonfly, conducted on an Airbus A350-1000, extended the plane's autonomy even further. The project focused on three areas: improved automatic landing, taxi assistance and automated emergency diversion. Perhaps the last of those is the most dramatic. Malcolm Ridley, Chief Test Pilot of Airbus's commercial aircraft, reassured us that the risk of being involved in an air accident is "vanishingly small". However, aircraft and crew need to be ready for any scenario, so Project Dragonfly tested an automatic emergency descent system. The idea is this technology will take over if the pilots need to focus on heavy decision-making or if they were to become incapacitated. Under its own control, the plane can descend and land, while recognising other aircraft, weather and terrain. The system also allows the plane to speak to air traffic control over the radio with a synthetic voice created through the use of artificial intelligence. It is a lot for the plane's systems to take on.<br/>
